Empiricism and Privacy Policies in the Restatement of Consumer Contract Law and The Faulty Foundation of the Draft Restatement of Consumer Contracts
“Empiricism and Privacy Policies in the Restatement of Consumer Contract Law” (Empiricism) asks the wrong question and takes the wrong approach to answering that question. A second article in same issue of the Journal, “The Faulty Foundation of the Draft Restatement of Consumer Contracts” (Faulty Foundation) has similar flaws. Both articles misconceive and overstate the role of “counting” in the preparation of the Restatement, as the Reporters emphasize that the Restatement follows the traditional ALI approach, which is based on a broad review of court decisions.
Consent and Sexual Assault in Criminal v. Tort Law
In this episode of Reasonably Speaking, NYU Law’s Erin Murphy and UC Irvine Law’s Ken Simons explore the difference between criminal law and tort law in the United States and then focus on how “consent” is, and should be, defined in sexual assault allegations.
The Liability Insurance Restatement
In response to a recent story concerning opposition to The American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance in the Texas state legislature, it appears that at least one sponsor owns an insurance agency, so I assume that some part of the insurance industry has been lobbying for this, even though the insurers and the sponsors have not even seen the final version of the Restatement.
SCOTUS Cites Property 3d
The U.S. Supreme Court cited the Restatement of the Law Third, Property: Mortgages, in holding that a business that engaged in no more than the enforcement of a security interest—such as a law firm that pursued nonjudicial foreclosures on behalf of clients—was not a “debt collector” within the meaning of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6), except for the limited purpose of § 1692f, which prohibited entities from threatening to foreclose on a consumer’s home without having legal entitlement to do so.
Restating the Architecture of Property
Property law has proven difficult to restate, with none of The American Law Institute’s previous Restatements coming close to covering the full breadth of this area. In addition to trying to fill this gap, those working on the current Fourth Restatement aim to capture the architecture of property.
SCOTUS Cites Torts 2d and Torts 3d
In a recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion, Air & Liquid Systems Corp. v. DeVries, No. 17-1104 (March 19, 2019), Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, writing for the majority, and Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, writing in dissent, cited the Second and Third Restatements of the Law, Torts.
The ALI Adviser is intended to inform readers about the legal topics and issues examined in many of ALI’s current projects; posts do not necessarily represent the position of the Institute taken in those projects. Posts on The ALI Adviser are written by ALI project participants, ALI members, and outside sources. Completed work is available to purchase online.